Cognitive Linguistics Croft&Cruse

3: Conceptualization and construal operations, pt. 1

3.1 Introduction

• Semantics is conceptualization (Langacker)

• All linguistic units evoke a semantic frame• Human beings employ a variety of

construal operations in language• Examples: when a language has

alternative expressions for the “same” situation (dad/father, spend/waste, leaves/foliage, lives/is living, etc.)

3.1 Introduction• There is cross-linguistic and language-internal

variation as to whether construal plus truth-conditional semantic shift is expressed covertly or overtly.

• Coercion – covert (not grammatically obligatory) expression of construal and semantic shift

• Conversion – overt (with grammatical markers) expression of construal and semantic shift

Example: count vs. mass is covert (coercion) in English, but overt (conversion) in Russian: soloma ‘straw’ vs. solominka ‘a straw’; kričal ‘cried’ vs. kriknul ‘cried once’

3.1 Introduction

• Both coercion and conversion involve construal.• Talmy, Langacker (and others) have explored

the possible construal operations• Image schemas impose a conceptualization of

experience; they are “abstract” because they are schematic, but they are “not abstract” because they are embodied (see list on p. 45) – these relate to the possible (source) domains as well.

3.1 Introduction

• Croft&Cruse (p. 46) suggest a classification of construal operations : – Attention/Salience– Judgement/Comparison (identity)– Perspective/Situatedness– Constitution/Gestalt

• These are 4 basic cognitive abilities• They are described in the remainder of the

chapter

3.2 Attention/Salience

• Attention includes:– Selecting an object of

attention– Having a focus of

attention in a scope of attention

– Selecting coarse or fine-grained attention

– Fixing or shifting attention

3.2.1 Selection

• Selecting something = ignoring the rest

• This can involve selecting the appropriate facet or domain of a word (e.g., Paris as a location, government, or population)

3.2.1 Selection

• Q: What is metonymy?

3.2.1 Selection

• Q: What is metonymy?

• A: Selection of a different concept profile than the one usually symbolized by a word.

The french fries is getting impatient.

3.2.2 Scope of attention (dominion)

• The scope of attention determines what is accessible to attention, what the search domain is. A reference point can determine the scope, as in the possessors in my watch, your anxiety, Lincoln’s assassination.

3.2.3 Scalar adjustment

• Q: What is a quantitative scalar adjustment?

3.2.3 Scalar adjustment

• Q: What is a quantitative scalar adjustment?• A: An adjustment of how coarse or fine-grained

a construal is (E.g., along the road, across the road, through the road)

3.2.3 Scalar adjustment

• Q: What is a qualitative scalar adjustment?

3.2.3 Scalar adjustment

• Q: What is a qualitative scalar adjustment?

• A: This is adjustment of attention along the range of schematicity, according to superordinate or subordinate categorization.

3.2.4 Dynamic attention

• Q: What is fictive motion?

3.2.4 Dynamic attention

• Q: What is fictive motion?

• A: Dynamic construal of a static scene, e.g., The road winds through the valley and then climbs over the high mountains.

3.2.4 Dynamic attention

• Q: What is the difference between sequential and summary scanning?

3.2.4 Dynamic attention

• Q: What is the difference between sequential and summary scanning?

• A: Sequential scanning sees something unfold through time (the bridge collapsed); summary scanning sees an event as a whole (the collapse of the bridge)

3.3 Judgement/comparison

• Comparison is a fundamental cognitive function, and has linguistic correlates in categorization, metaphor, and figure-ground alignment.

3.3.1 Categorization

• Categorization can involve full sanction – when an item is clearly a member of a category, or partial sanction – when a member is an extension of a category.

3.3.2 Metaphor

• Q: What is metaphor?

3.3.2 Metaphor

• Q: What is metaphor? • A: Metaphor is a mapping between a source

domain and a target domain.

3.3.3 Figure-ground alignment

• Q: What properties are usually associated with figure vs. ground?

3.3.3 Figure-ground alignment

• Q: What properties are usually associated with figure vs. ground?

• A: Figure is usually less known, smaller, more mobile, simpler, more salient, and more recent in awareness than ground. Linguistic realizations include main (figure) vs. subordinate (ground) clauses, prepositions.